Newsday first reported Monday night that the Islanders will put DiPietro, 31, on waivers Tuesday for the purpose of buying out the eight years that remain on his landmark 15-year contract.

DiPietro became an all-star with the Islanders, receiving that contract in 2006, but an assortment of injuries derailed him over the years that followed.

The Islanders put him on waivers Feb. 22 to send him to Bridgeport; he played 18 games down the stretch with the Sound Tigers to a .893 save percentage, going 9-9.

The Islanders will owe DiPietro $1.5 million a year over the next 16 years -- two-thirds of the total value remaining, spread out over twice the term that remained.

Newsday reported that the Islanders will use one of their two compliance buyouts allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement, so that money won't count against the NHL's salary cap (nor toward the salary floor requirements).

The first pick in the 2000 NHL draft, DiPietro split his rookie year between the NHL and the Chicago Wolves, then in the International Hockey League.

Bridgeport joined the AHL the next year, and DiPietro became its first No. 1 goalie, playing 59 regular-season games -- winning 30 -- and leading the team to the Calder Cup Final, where they lost in five games to the Chicago Wolves, who'd moved to the AHL that year as well.

After 34 games and five more in the playoffs the following year for Bridgeport,

DiPietro moved up to the Islanders pretty much full-time, making only six conditioning starts in the AHL over the next decade.

He played over 60 NHL games three years in a row, ending with 2007-08. He has played only 50 NHL games since.